A very small respected brewer told me that a 10bbl or 15bbl would be the best small size to actually turn a profit.

It depends on what you mean by " turn a profit". We will be profitable with pur little 1.5 bbl this month.... But on a tiny scale. We will have positive cash flow almost immediately but it is a tiny amount (and none of us are taking salaries) so again, it depends on how exactly "profitable" is being defined.

I have another question for you, I know you mentioned the issues with running propane, and then upgrading the natural gas lines, but at any point did you consider going electric? I know a guy that is opening up a brewpub locally who went that route. Was it just a matter of what your were familiar with, or were there other considerations/limitations? It would seem to be that the precision and automation of electric brewing would be a plus in a commercial operation where consistency is required.

The building we are in would explode if we tried to go that route. The electrical in the building is ancient and would have taken a ton of work. Granted. It took all sorts of work to have the nat gas run but going electric never crossed our mind. I am not sure I agree with electric being any more precise than gas. We are doing simple infusions and at the thermal mass of our mash tun, we only bleed off a degree of temp over our mash so we arent going to bother with a HERMS coil or anything like that. When the strike water hits the needed temps, you simply shut the burner off. I am not sure I agree that having an electric heat stick auto-shut off makes that process any more accurate.

A very small respected brewer told me that a 10bbl or 15bbl would be the best small size to actually turn a profit.

Good luck. Brew with New Zealand hops...they're the best in the world

meh....local brewer here has been turning a good enough profit for the last two years on a 1.5bbl system to purchase a 10bbl setup in cash and also pay for both of his expansions in cash. It's a lot of work but if done right and you aren't a fool with your money you can turn a profit on a 10gal system.

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